Trade Destinations For Zion Williamson
by Joshua Buckhalter/fansided
Zion was the number one pick in the 2019 draft, and to be completely honest, he hasn’t achieved much since. He was injured almost every season he played in the NBA, and I catch myself watching reruns of Zion when he was in the AAU league.
When you look around the league, you kind of hear the same thing; amazing player, the most talented prospect you will see, and a future face of the NBA. However, teams are starting to see the side of Zion that people typically shouldn’t see from NBA players. He does not want to play for the Pelicans, and he also has a problem with committing to his teammates as well.
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Portland Trail Blazers
What the Pelican’s did by bringing CJ McCollum was bring veteran leadership to their very young franchise. He has certainly helped them in that aspect. However, McCollum and Brandon Ingram are not the best options to put on a team together because they are both ball-dominant players.
However, if you put Zion on a team with already set veteran leadership in Damian Lillard, I can see very successful things happening in Portland.
Zion is a great player, there’s no doubt about it. He can be this franchise, he can be the future of Portland as well. Portland’s main goal here is to extend Lillard's timeline. Zion can do that for Lillard, and Lillard can guide Zion and be on him enough to get themselves a good championship run.
I see a pretty straightforward trade here in terms of money picks and players. It just so happens that the Pelicans are interested in drafting Scoot Henderson which heavily implies that Zion would be on the outs over Ingram, and I also don’t see the Pelicans trading McCullom back to Portland.
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New York Knicks
This moment is exactly what New York was looking for. They wanted Zion to pair up with Rj Barret since the very beginning. This is a prime opportunity to do so, it might take Julius Randle to do so, but in this case, they should keep Obi Toppin and keep him on the bench. If Zion is healthy enough a duo tandem in Rj and Zion would be very dangerous. The league would absolutely fear this.
They would certainly start to attract co-stars in New York as well. Prime examples would be Seth Curry, bringing back Josh Hart, alongside Zion possibly bringing Donovan Mitchell into the mix. If the Knicks could trade for Zion and sign Mitchell the next year, this team would undoubtedly be championship bound.
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Charlotte Hornets
Currently, the Hornets are in the middle of a rebuild. They drafted Lamelo Ball and Miles Bridges in hopes of someday, somehow, getting a championship. However, things took a turn for the worst for the Hornets when accusations of domestic violence and sexual abuse came out against Bridges, and in the same month, the Hornets rejected to renew his NBA contract.
This was a real bump in the road for them, and with Lamelo out this year, it got them a top-three pick in this year's draft, where they have the choice between Brandon Miller and Scoot Henderson. (I’m not including Wemby here only because he is a lock for the number one pick.)
Bringing Zion to the Hornets would, in my opinion, be really beneficial for the Hornets and for Zion. I think the attraction between Lamelo and Zion would amaze NBA crowds, and they would certainly have amazing chemistry with each other. They would have to give up their pick, but honestly, for Zion, it will probably be worth it.
Final Thoughts
I think Zion needs some savvy veteran leadership he can look up to. There’s no debate that Zion loves the game of basketball, however, with his multiple injuries, he’s not looking like the future face of the NBA. The 2019 draft class is so far a pretty big disappointment. With all the problems going on with all these different players from the draft, it makes Rj Barret look the best out of these prospects.
